A radio frequency (RF) receiver connected to an antenna is susceptible to damaging electrostatic discharge (ESD) pulses from its operating environment. As integrated circuits, including RF receivers, shrink in physical size, the integrated circuits are becoming more susceptible to ESD because of its smaller fabrication geometry. There are various traditional methods of shunting ESD to protect integrated circuits including using complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or bipolar clamp diodes. However, when operating at high frequency, such as five (5) GHz, the parasitic impedance of traditional ESD protection circuits can distort and deteriorate signal integrity.
Desirable in the art is an improved ESD protection circuit.